Two years later, the Mobile resident saw hope for herself and others when she started to volunteer for community HIV/AIDS organizations. She began to take her medication.

"I know had I not taken (the medicine), I'd be dead today," said Boykin, 56. "I know it without a doubt."

Boykin is hardly alone with her condition. About 339 of every 100,000 Americans lived with HIV/AIDS in 2010, according to the most recent comparable data from the Centers for Disease Control.

A total of 204.7 of every 100,000 people in Alabama lived with HIV/AIDS in 2010 -- a prevalence well below the national average. Still, nine Alabama counties exceeded the national HIV/AIDS prevalence in 2010: Barbour, Bullock, Dallas, Jefferson, Lowndes, Macon, Mobile, Russell and Montgomery, which had more than double the national prevalence.

Alabama also had the 10th highest HIV incidence in the United States in 2010, with 20.4 people of every 100,000 testing newly positive for HIV. Leading the nation, 38.3 people of every 100,000 in Maryland were newly diagnosed in 2010.

In 2013, 11.51 people of every 100,000 in Alabama tested newly positive for HIV, and 12,404 people in Alabama lived with HIV/AIDS, according to preliminary statistics from the Alabama Department of Public Health. The cumulative number of HIV diagnoses reported to ADPH from 1982 to March 31, 2014, are 18,492, which include both living and dead individuals.

AL.com is examining the state's HIV/AIDS numbers as part of a larger look at Alabama's sexual health. Previously, AL.com reported that sexually transmitted disease incidence for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in Alabama are nearly double the national average based on population.

"AIDS is still here," said Michael Saag, director of University of Alabama at Birmingham's Center for AIDS Research. "The majority of the people who transmit virus don't know it."

The following map shows HIV/AIDS prevalence in Alabama. Dark red shows a prevalence that is higher than the national average; light red is higher than the national average; dark blue is lower than the national average; and light blue is much lower than the national average.

"A disease of poverty"

Saag has spent his career treating HIV and AIDS patients. He calls it a "disease of poverty," that disproportionately affects under-served populations.

"It turns out a lot of the people who have HIV who haven't been tested are disproportionately poor and disproportionately live in rural areas where healthcare access is pretty spotty," Saag said. "You can sort of look at a map of Alabama by income and it probably would superimpose upon prevalence of HIV in the state as well. That's true around the country."

For example, the average household in Madison County, for example, which borders Tennessee, earned $58,242 and 9.1 percent of its families lived in poverty in 2012, census figures show. With 212 of its 100,000 residents living with HIV/AIDS in 2010, Madison County's rate is about 40 percent lower than the national prevalence.

Lawrence Robey, Madison County's health officer, says that the northern part of the state historically benefits health wise from its relative affluence.

"This part of the state has higher education levels, higher income levels, and a very robust health care system," Robey said. Those factors tie together to help decrease the rates of sexually transmitted disease."

On the flip side, the average household in In Montgomery County earned $44,401 and about 16.3 percent of all families there lived in poverty in 2012, according to census figures. Montgomery County has about 2.2 times the national HIV/AIDS prevalence.

The average household in Jefferson County, the state's most populated county, earned $43,160 about 13.9 percent of its facilities lived in poverty in 2012, according to the census figures. It has about 1.7 times the national HIV/AIDS prevalence.

The HIV/AIDS prevalence in Tuscaloosa County, home to the University of Alabama, was 36 percent lower than the national average, data shows.

Mobile County, which had the second highest state population in 2010, had 1.5 times the national average of HIV/AIDS prevalence.

The following table lists the 10 counties with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in Alabama:

Area

Population

Cases

Rate (per 100,000)

U.S. Rate

Difference from U.S. Rate

Montgomery

189,111

1,429

755.5

339.4

222.6%

Jefferson

547,191

3,244

592.9

339.4

174.7%

Macon

18,571

102

549.1

339.4

161.8%

Lowndes

9,363

50

536.2

339.4

158.0%

Mobile

339,724

1,765

519.7

339.4

153.1%

Bullock

9,176

38

409.1

339.4

120.5%

Barbour

23,103

90

388.1

339.4

114.3%

Russell

43,491

163

375.3

339.4

110.6%

Dallas

35,554

129

362.5

339.4

106.8%

Pike

28,235

96

338.4

339.4

99.7%

This story was updated at 12:35 p.m. July 22, 2014 with updated HIV/AIDS statistics from the Alabama Department of Public Health.